


Mirror in the Mirror

by Carrot_Bunny



Category: Free!
Genre: Childhood, Gen, M/M, Musicians, Sourin Xmas Exchange, also spiegel im spiegel, i just like music, please consider iwatobi string quartet, really it's just a music au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:46:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5524241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrot_Bunny/pseuds/Carrot_Bunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p>“You – you’ll really do it? You’ll play a duet with me?”</p>
</blockquote>Written for Pandy as a gift for the Sourin Xmas Exchange! Have a great Christmas, sweetie!
            </blockquote>





	Mirror in the Mirror

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BakaPandy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakaPandy/gifts).
  * Inspired by [the jacket you never returned](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2228061) by [daisuga](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisuga/pseuds/daisuga). 



> First of all, click on the link and play [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLxWd1t-5H4) when reading. Tissues are optional. Okay, now continue.

Sousuke hadn’t ever thought of playing the piano at first. He was always more of a sporty type, game for anything that involved a ball – although he was starting to develop an interest in swimming as well – but one day his mother came back from work and announced that he was to attend his first piano lesson at the music centre in the local mall that weekend.

“They’re giving a rebate for beginner classes if you sign up this month!” she explained brightly, as if that was a good enough reason on its own.

Sousuke thought he might’ve been more thrilled if his mother had signed him up for football or swimming lessons instead, but he was five and at that age you pretty much went wherever your parents wanted you to go without question. So on Saturday morning there he was, sitting with his mother in a waiting room where the walls displayed pictures of funny-looking men who mostly sported strangely-styled white hair. He wondered if these men were teachers here, and whether his own teacher would have the same weird curly hairdo as well.

As it turned out, his teacher was a woman. And her hair was black.

The first few lessons were decent enough – he learned a complete octave of notes and how to read them on the sheet music. His parents said they would buy a secondhand upright piano for him, but in the meantime he could practice on the electronic keyboard a neighbour didn’t want anymore and gave to him. The keys of the keyboard got stuck at times and the notes had this slight buzzing undertone to them, but for the time being it would serve. Sousuke didn’t really care either way.

His mother and teacher kept telling him that he should practice regularly and remember to finish his theory homework, but there was no way he was going to sit down and scribble semibreves and minims on a bunch of lines or play _Mary Had A Little Lamb_ for the hundredth time when there were friends to meet and games to play, so more often than not he finished his homework hastily in the music centre’s waiting room before class and tried not to let his lack of practice show when his teacher called on him to perform the piece he was learning.

He didn’t dislike piano, but he didn’t particularly like it either. It was just something that had to be done, like bathing before dinner or making the bed after waking up. He liked the tunes he was learning just fine, although they could get pretty boring after half an hour of continuous practicing. His mother said he would enjoy it more once the upright piano arrived and he could play the actual instrument, so he accepted that and went back to figuring out rest symbols and trying to master _Greensleeves_ before the next class.

Then one evening he was lying on the living room floor on his stomach doodling in a sketchbook while the TV screen flashed above his head. He didn’t know what his parents were watching, but his ears picked up a simple yet gentle melody. He looked up to see what seemed to be a black and white photo displayed on the screen, while an unseen man’s voice was narrating something, but he could hear the melody playing distinctly underneath the monologue.

Sousuke waited until whatever program it was had finished and his parents had turned off the TV, then ran to turn on the electronic keyboard sitting in the corner. Two hours and a whole lot of fiddling about with the keyboard later, he emerged triumphant with his sketchbook, where a grand total of six music notes had been written.

At the next lesson, before his teacher could ask him to take out the theory homework assigned the previous week, he’d sat down at the piano and lifted the cover. Propping the sheet of paper he’d torn out from his sketchbook on the piano, his right hand moved to play the melody.

“Do you know what this song is called?” he asked after he had finished.

The look of bewilderment on his teacher’s face cleared. “Oh, you want to learn the name of this song is it?” Chuckling lightly, she retrieved her phone from her handbag and tapped on its screen for a few seconds, then bent down to show him two hands hovering over a keyboard. She clicked play, and the soft notes of the same melody that was now imprinted in his mind filled the little room.

“That’s it! That’s the one!” He peered down excitedly at the phone screen and read the title of the video underneath. “Spiega – um, spiegeh - ”

“ _Spiegel im Spiegel_ ,” his teacher finished for him. “It means ‘mirror in the mirror’.” She smiled down at him. “Would you like to learn to play this song?”

Teal eyes flashed brightly. “Yes please!”

…

As his fingers played the last few notes, Sousuke closed his eyes before breathing out gently. He remained still for a few moments, letting the comforting silence of the music room wrap around him, before letting out a sigh.

“I know you’re standing there.”

“Whoops,” was the playful answer, and Sousuke turned around to see a pointy-toothed grin directed at him as the other emerged from the doorway. The redhead crossed the room within a few strides, stopping right before the piano stool with his hands tucked in the pockets of his shorts.

“Where did you learn to play ‘S.I.S’ as a solo?”

Sousuke raised an eyebrow. “S.I… S?”

“Short form for spegal in, uh, whatever it was. Who cares what the song’s called anyway, you just need to know how to play it.” Crimson eyes gleamed enthusiastically at the young pianist. “You’re playing it for the recital, right?”

“Uh… I’ve thought about it.”

“Great! Are you going to play solo like you did just now?”

“Yes,” Sousuke answered firmly. That much he was sure of.

“But you do know it’s supposed to be a piano-violin duet, right? That’s how it was originally written.”

“Of course I know. So what?”

“So, it’d be cooler if we could do it together! We could perform a duet at the recital and blow everyone away! It’d be fun!”

Now both Sousuke’s eyebrows were raised. “But you don’t play the violin. You’re a cellist.”

His friend snorted. “Big deal. I can easily use the violin score to play – after all, a cello is just a bigger violin.”

Sousuke conceded that he had a point – he’d played the piano solo himself using the original sheet music anyway, and a cello would be even easier to adapt. He shook his head lightly. “Why do you keep bugging me to play a duet with you anyway, Rin?”

“Because you haven’t agreed yet, of course. You won’t even play together with me during practice.”

“I don’t like playing with other people.”

“Sheesh, why so anti-social?”

“Music has nothing to do with being anti-social! It’s not some sort of team sport either, you don’t need a whole orchestra to play. All you need are your two hands, and that’s it. No extra baggage.”

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, and Sousuke looked up only to be met with Rin’s fierce glare. “Extra baggage?” he echoed with a dangerous edge in his voice.

Instead of stepping down however, Sousuke’s brows knitted together defiantly. “Well, think about it! When you’re playing solo, it’s just you and the instrument. Whatever happens depends on your skill and talent alone, how much effort you’ve put in. On the other hand, when you play in a duet you have to rely on the other person, and if they didn’t practice enough or made a mistake your performance is ruined. And you have to share the success with them as well, when you could’ve just done it on your own. I mean, what’s the point?”

“There is a point!” The piano emitted a loud discordant bang as Rin slammed a hand down on the keyboard. “Music isn’t just about one person – everyone that listens is part of it! And when you play with someone else you’re sharing the music, adding more to it, making it better! Like string quartets – the instruments sound good on their own, but when you put them all together it becomes something amazing! The different sounds come together to form their very own harmony, and you can never do that by playing solo!”

Sousuke huffed. “Then just go play with your own string quartet instead! You already play with Nanase and the others, don’t you?”

Rin gave an irritated tsk, but Sousuke could see his shoulders slump slightly. “The four of us are part of the juniors’ opening acts, but Nagisa’s a year younger so he can’t actually play in the recital itself. Haruka and Makoto are already doing a violin duet – _Canon in D_.” A smirk slowly emerged on his face. “They’re performing Pachelbel, yet you’re just going to play triads over and over instead.”

“You – that’s not - ” Sousuke couldn’t think of a good retort though – Rin was right, _Spiegel im Spiegel_ was rather simplistic compared to the pieces the other students would be performing, especially as a piano solo. Even his music teacher had advised him to select another piece that would display more of his skills. _It’s a lovely piece_ , she’d said, _but it’s still minimal music after all. Perhaps you’d like to choose something more extensive?_

He loved _Spiegel im Spiegel_ though – it was the first longer piece of music he’d learned to play, and he’d always imagined himself playing it in the school music club’s annual graduate recital. It would be the final note to his elementary school music career, and the last time he’d perform in the same event as his clubmates before they went off to different middle schools.

He glanced at Rin, and felt a dull thud in his chest. Everyone in the club knew by now that Rin would be going to Australia to study music, and his flight was the day after the recital. Nagisa had been close to tears just earlier during practice at the thought of the four of them playing together for the last time, and Sousuke wasn’t so sure Rin was completely dry-eyed either. It would be the last time in elementary school that they’d stand on the same stage as well, the two of them who had been rivals since third grade and friends for just as long.

Might as well make this chance count then.

“You have the music score for it, right?” When Rin only gave him a confused look, Sousuke clicked his tongue in slight annoyance as he stood up and began to gather together his piano sheets. “ _Spiegel im Spiegel_. You’ve probably never played it on your own before, with your cello and all, but there’s still enough time to practice together. I’ll tell Iwada-sensei about it tomorrow.”

Rin’s eyes widened so big Sousuke thought they were going to pop out. “You – you’ll really do it? You’ll play a duet with me?”

Sousuke shrugged, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. “Why not? It’s the last performance of elementary school – think of it as a last favor.”

“You’re the best!” Rin cheered as he surprised Sousuke with a huge hug, and the dark-haired musician had to hold on tightly to his sheet music so that they didn’t fall out of his hands. He awkwardly patted Rin on the shoulder as the other let go, at a slight loss on how to react to this exhilarated outburst.

Rin then suddenly punched Sousuke’s arm. “But don’t call it a last favor!” he chided as his friend rubbed the sore spot with a groan, before grinning so brightly that Sousuke could swear there was a second sun in the music room.

He put out a fist, ready to meet Sousuke’s in a bump. “Promise me, okay? This won’t be the last time we perform with each other. We’ll definitely play together again one day, got it?”

Sousuke blinked once, and then a grin sprouted on his face as well. “Got it,” he replied as he lifted his own fist. “I promise.”

…

He gave the knob on the stool one last twist as he adjusted the height, then stood up and walked over to sit before the piano. It was the same upright piano his parents had bought secondhand all those years ago, and even though he hadn’t touched it once ever since going to Tokyo after elementary school the keys felt as familiar as ever under his fingertips.

He remembered how Rin would help him push the sofa next to the piano to the left so that the cello could fit beside it, and if he tried hard enough he could clearly hear their laughter as they pushed it back into its original placement after yet another practice session. They were a couple of eleven-year-olds playing two of the largest instruments any grade-schooler could play in a cramped living room, yet they still had the time of their lives.

The Samezuka auditorium had plenty of space of course, and although it was smaller than the school music hall in Tokyo and nowhere near the size of the ballroom where the regionals were held, to him it was the best stage he’d ever performed on. It was there that he’d finally felt that he was part of something bigger, not just an individual but one of many sounds melded into a lifting chorus that poured forth and filled the hearts of all present. He’d been a gear in the machine, pushing and being pushed along as they all revolved to the same rhythm. With the band, with Momo and Nitori, with _Rin_ , he’d been so much more than he was when it was just him and a keyboard.

And now that it had all ended, he only realized how much he didn’t want it to go.

 _I’ll wait for you_ , Rin had said that day in the music room, and Sousuke wasn’t about to have him waiting forever. The doctor had said that short but regular periods of practice would help with the mobility, and he already knew this one by heart anyway. It was just playing triads over and over, like Rin had said.

His foot pressed down on the pedal, and the fingers of his right hand started their dance over the white keys. He went as far as he could with only one hand, using his right thumb to hold down the undertone, until the music started building up and he reached out his other hand to play the bass chords.

The jolt of pain that shot down his left arm caused his hand to crash right onto the keys, cutting off the melody with a dissonant bang.

_I can’t do it._

He was dimly aware that his eyes were welling up, yet all he could see was Rin’s fist clutched in front of him, with all confidence and faith. _We’ll definitely play together again one day, got it?_

Sousuke let his hands fall limply from the piano keys, and the tears started trickling down.

…

“Do you know what this song is called?” she asked after playing the last note.

Before Sousuke could answer though, a voice from the kitchen called “It’s ‘S.I.S’!”

“Don’t misinform her,” Sousuke shot back before turning to smile at the girl. “That piece is called _Spiegel im Spiegel_. S-P-I-E-G-E-L ‘Spiegel’, and I-M ‘im’.”

“ _Spiegel im Spiegel_ ,” she repeated. “Mirror in the mirror?”

Sousuke was impressed. “Smart girl. Do you know German?”

“My aunt once got me a storybook in Braille, but she didn’t know it was in German. Daddy taught me how to read it with a language app, so I know a few words,” she explained proudly, then wrinkled her nose. “What do mirrors have to do with the song?”

“Well…” Sousuke racked his brains trying to figure out how to explain to a child who was blind from birth what an infinity mirror was like. “Um, it’s like soundwaves – you know how sounds echo when they hit a hard surface?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah, so imagine the soundwaves bouncing back and forth between two hard walls. Each echo is slightly different, because the walls aren’t completely smooth, but the general sound still stays the same. That’s why the melody is repeated with slight differences in every passage – it’s like echoes, or the reflections of mirrors.”

“Ohhh.” The girl paused for a while. “Does that mean it’s difficult to play?”

“Not at all. Once you get the hang of it you’ll be able to play from memory. Here, I’ll teach you.”

The next hour was spent teaching the tonic triad part of the song’s first half, which the girl picked up easily. At the end, Sousuke even let her try playing the melody herself once, and for one who’d just learnt it that very day she managed wonderfully.

It was then that he noticed what his husband had been up to after leaving the kitchen, but Rin motioned for him to be silent and grinned before drawing out his bow.

Sousuke grinned back conspiratorially, then turned back to his student. “Okay, now try playing it again. This time I’ll play the accompaniment with you, alright?”

“Alright!” the girl chimed happily.

Sousuke positioned his left hand over the piano keys, then nodded reassuringly once at Rin before tapping his student’s shoulder gently. “Whenever you’re ready.”

She obediently started playing the melody, and on the second bar the bass chords fitted in beautifully. He caught Rin's smile before the mellow strains of the cello joined in as well.

The girl gave a gasp of wonder, but her hand never stopped playing. As the notes swelled and merged, Sousuke could see the stage of Sano Elementary again, where a little redhead sat beside him with a cello almost as tall as he was, both of their hearts beating to the same tune.

“Will you play with me again next time?” the girl asked Rin shyly as she was about to leave with her father after class ended.

Rin bent down so he was level with her, curling her fingers gently to form a fist before bumping it against his own. His eyes shifted up towards Sousuke standing over them, and the corners of his mouth tilted upwards warmly.

“As many times as you want.”

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno, an Iwatobi string quartet is sounding more appealing to me by the minute. Rei couldn't get the hang of either violin or viola, but turns out he has a hidden talent for the cello after all.
> 
> Also Momo plays the trumpet and Ai plays the flute. Just because.
> 
> Come message me on Tumblr @carrot-s-cross-station if you wanna blow this AU bigger because I sure as hell need someone to rant about this with. Merry Christmas, lovelies!


End file.
